How did Rubinstein get so good in such a short amount of time?

Supposedly one needs years to become better at chess. Now this guy Rubinstein was not any good...getting beaten even by people who were getting beaten with rook odds by the master in town.

 

Then he dissapears for a few months. Comes back and beats the master. How is it possible he got so good in such a short amount of time?

It is not possible. Rubinstein played some good chess, but he had a mental breakdown to his fear of people.

It was definitely more than just overcoming fear. Rubinstein was another player when he returned (after six months) to his chess club in Lodz, Poland, and challenged the champion, Salwe. The first match was a draw, a new match was arranged, and Rubinstein won. A new match resulted in a decisive victory for Rubinstein.
It seems that Rubinstein discovered by self-study and in an incredible short time the value in dynamics in chess, especially in endings, and became in few months one of the best players in the world.
According to Hans Berliner (The System) Rubinstein was the first player to find the perfect balance between the dynamism of Morphy and the positional theories of Steinitz.

Akiba is a bit of a mystery.  He learned chess at 16 and became world class very quickly.  I understand there are three general reasons for his assent to the top.  First, he became obsessed with chess, to the point he gave up studying to be a rabbi to be a chess professional.  Though not as documented as Fischer, his devotion to the game seemed to be similar to the American.  Second, he played and trained with a strong Polish master whose name I cannot remember nor likely spell correctly.  Having a master point out mistakes from the very beginning surely sped up progress, just as having a master coach at anything will speed up progress.  Finally, Rubinstein studied with an eye for the endgame, and he is perhaps the first player to really focus and excel at this phase of the game.  While other players were certainly good at the endgame, Rubinstein took it to the next level, and his Rook endgames are still masterpieces a century later.  Remember how everyone says we should start with learning endgames?  Akiba did just that, and it appears to work.

When you add it altogether, you get a young man who gave up all other interest to study chess religiously, with a strong player to help hone his game, and who started with and mastered the endgame in a way no player had achieved yet, giving him unique insights into the middlegame and endgame.  Also, I’m sure natural talent played no small part as well.

There is an excellent biography on Rubinstein, two volumes I believe, which may dive into these matters more, but I only read the prologue. 

seems like a decent statement, I can't think of anyone before Rubinstein who did this better. Rubinstein is awesome

Pretty cool story of retreating from the world, training and studyingly ferociously for 6 months or so, and then attain OTB master level.  Maybe he discovered "The secret of chess"?    

Maybe, but I am pretty sure he didn't claim he can beat Stockfish ha ha

 Rubinstein was like Morphy a genius, he analyze games and develop a awesome system that work for him; came back six month later to the chess club and crush Salwe in a match. Back in late 19th century and early 20th century their minds was more develop than us; to prove my point here is Botvinnik quoting Benjamin Franklin, " Benjamin Franklin already wrote an essay called Morals of Chess in which he wrote that chess helped to mould one's personlity."  

 

Rubinstein analyze and thought deeply on the games and doing so became a super grandmaster, just like Fischer. 

 

 

 

When asked who they think was the strongest player never to become world champion, most knowledgable chessplayers mention either Viktor Korchnoi or Akiba Rubinstein.

I must say that I also share this opinion.

What’s amazing is that Rubinstein was already past his peak (and on the verge of retiring) the year Victor Korchnoi was born (Korchnoi was born in 1931, Rubinstein quit chess in 1933) but was already playing what we now consider super grandmaster-level chess as early as 1907!

This was at a time prior to computers, prior to chess coaches and when good chess books were hard to come by.

Can you imagine a player beginning these days at age 16 and quickly becoming a world-class grandmaster without books, coaching or computers?

Very hard to imagine, right?

By June of 1913 Rubinstein was the strongest player in the world, but sadly struggled to raise the fees needed to challenge Lasker in a World Championship match.

In their individual encounters at tournaments, Akiba Rubinstein held his own and in fact sometimes dominated, as we can see in the game coming below.

This game also happened to be the first game between the two rivals, and I imagine must have come as a splash of cold water to Lasker.

Who is this guy who humiliated him??…and in such a beautifully played game too!

Its little wonder that Lasker later made things difficult for Rubinstein as he attempted to organise a challenge match for the title!

Akiba Rubinstein vs Emanuel Lasker

This game was played in 1909 and showed that Rubinstein had already by this time mastered tactical play, calculation of complicated positions and his specialty…endgame technique.

Four players develop their chess skills to super grandmaster caliber, Morphy, Chigorin, Pillsbury and Rubinstein.

We can have clue how Rubinstein develop his chess abilities through GM Lev Polugaevsky. In a interview Lev Polugaevsky explain how he became a grandmaster;  "I still think that young players should study and know the masters of the past, because if you'v never seen the games of Chigorin, Schlechter, Gunsberg,or Tarrasch, you cannot become a really strong player. He continue, " Then there were Kotov's books on Alekhine, which I studied diligently, and Botvinnik's games 64 Best Games, one of his ealier books. This book by Botvinnik I studies very fanatically. I even read it before I went to sleep and tried to remember positions. Even now, if you would open this book at random and show me a diagram, I could still tell you the number of the page and the game.  

 

 Lev Polugaevsky quote, " I always say that in every position you should try to find the single best move. "    I like this quote by Polugaevsky very much.  

 

 

To be great in any endeavor one must pursue it with a single-mindedness and do not weaver; that was Rubinstein, he was diligent, hard working, single-minded and the chess secrets were reveal to him. Chess secrets are reveal to those who are diligent. If you ever read Chigorin account how he  study chess day and night and his love for chess, Rubinstein's study chess everyday and had only four days rest a year.